


Hey, Cinderella

by Diary



Category: Fargo (TV)
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Getting Together, Introspection, Late Night Conversations, Love, POV Linda Park Nygaard, Romance, Season/Series 01, Self-Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:14:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25568821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diary/pseuds/Diary
Summary: A look at Linda during season 1. Complete.
Relationships: Lester Nygaard/Linda Park Nygaard
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	Hey, Cinderella

Whenever Linda starts to get bored with how dull her job can be, she reminds herself of the long, hard hours working in her parents’ motel. How her back and feet were always aching, how her fingers and hands would some times chap from having to scrub so much even though she wore gloves, how rude and dismissive and just plain disgusting certain guests could be.

It’s nice being able to largely sit. It’s not hard getting files, organising things, and it doesn’t happen often, but when someone’s rude on the phone, she can hang up.

The best part is Lester, and she tries not to feel guilty about this.

He’s a married man, and she doesn’t want- sometimes, she thinks, if he and his wife would get divorced, then-

She feels guilty for the thoughts. If she were married, she sure wouldn’t want some woman wishing she and her husband would get divorced.

If he ever tried anything, she’d turn him down, but he wouldn’t.

“Hiya, Linda.”

“Lester!” She gives him her best smile. His suit is the same one he wore three days ago, older and thinning, and she told him about a decent suit shop a while ago, but nothing came of it.

It’s not her business, she knows. If she had a husband who needed to wear a suit for his job, she’d try her best to make sure he had several nice, well-made ones, not ones that cost thousand of dollars, but ones that fit comfortably, showed off how good he looked-

“How’s your herbs doing?” Sitting at his desk, he looks at her.

Some of her best memories as a kid are of helping her grandmother tend to potted plants of herbs and spices. Later, her parents had gardens planted at the hotel, and except for blistering sunny days, she preferred working in them to inside.

Most people around here, they don’t even know the difference between herbs and spices, and she doesn’t want to bore people.

Lester, though, he’s been interested in hearing about her potted garden since she sent him home with some watercress juice for Mrs Nygaard’s summer flu. She has the feeling Mrs Nygaard wasn’t as thankful as he claimed, but it doesn’t matter; she tried her best to be truly helpful.

Sometimes, he’ll bring up murder cases he’s heard about involving herbs, and if it were someone else, she might think he has a darker interest, but Lester’s the type of nice guy who won’t even stomp on spiders.

“Good, thank you. I’ve got a whole new batch of ginger if you’re interested. This lady I see a lot during my weekly shopping trip, her son has a bad case of bronchitis, and when I told her about rose-hip elixir, she looked ready to cry. Apparently, her husband and her have been fighting with their insurance company for months, and besides her son, their daughter has a bad case of the diabetes. I wish I knew something that could help with that, but I don’t.”

He smiles his soft, sweet smile, and she shouldn’t want what another woman has, but she sure wishes she had a husband who’d smile like that every night before they went to sleep and every morning before breakfast.

It’s fine, wanting a husband like that, but it’s not fine wanting a man who’s already someone else’s husband.

“What’s ginger good for?”

“Well, I usually just use it to make my grilled pork tenderloins tasty, but medicine-wise, it can help with…”

They talk until some clients come in.

…

She _never_ wanted Mrs Nygaard to die.

Poor Lester, having to live through this, but she thanks God he did live. From what she’s heard, he’s going to be okay. Even though he was knocked out, his memory is still there, and hopefully, who he is will stay the same, too.

Why would anyone hurt the Nygaards? Lester’s such a good man, working hard, never saying a cross word to anyone, and Mrs Nygaard, she was a housewife; it’s hard to imagine she ever did anything serious to anyone. And sure, Lester makes decent money, but for someone to decide to rob them- she can’t really bring herself to believe this would be it.

Sending soup doesn’t seem like enough, but she doesn’t know what else would be right.

When he comes in, so soon after it happened, she can’t help but hug him, and when he talks about getting back to work so soon, she can’t believe how brave he is.

Later, he shows her his wounded hand. “The doctors don’t know what to do, and going to some bigger hospital out of town-”

He looks so sad and defeated, and she shouldn’t hate, but whoever did this to him and his wife-

Thankfully, though, she knows she can probably help. It’s a little infected, but flushing the infection, and then, getting it to close itself up, she knows what to give him for it.

Her dad’s always fussing about how American medical doctors want to shove sometimes dangerous drugs down people for big problems and are helpless when it comes to little ones, and usually, she just nods along, but there are times when he’s definitely proven right.

…

Lester’s own brother- they were having an affair, the late Mrs Nygaard and Lester’s brother, and his brother killed her. Knocked his own brother out. Let his little son get a hold of a gun that he took to school.

Lester insists his nephew would never hurt anyone, that he musta just wanted to show it off, not really understanding, or even that his own brother was stupidly careless enough to accidentally place it in his son’s backpack.

Poor Lester’s sister-in-law, she thinks.

She wonders if that Mrs Nygaard ever wishes she’d married the other brother.

At the very least, she wouldn’t blame her for wishing she’d married someone other than this Nygaard and having her son with that man instead.

“Lester- I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say. Is there anything I can do?”

Hopefully, the little boy will be given back to his mama soon. Maybe, she could bake some brownies or cookies.

“No, thank you, Linda. I sure appreciate all you’ve already done.”

Squeezing his arm, she tries to smile. “Of course.”

There’s a look she doesn’t like in his eyes.

“I knew. Not that- I think, sometimes, we married too young. No matter what I tried, she was never really happy.”

Neither were you, she thinks, but she knows better than to say it.

Lester’s seemed freer lately, more confident.

She wishes they’d gotten divorced. That the former Mrs Nygaard could be alive and maybe happily married to someone who was more right for her and that Lester could be like this without grieving his dead wife.

“Hey.” Taking his hand, she squeezes. “This is all your brother’s doing. It wasn’t right what she did to ya, but she sure didn’t deserve that. And for him to do such a thing to his whole family- What’s important is you tried. That’s all any of can do, yeah?”

…

Lester’s still as polite and kind ever, but he stands up for himself now. He’s found new suits online, and they look so good on him.

It’s still so soon after his wife died, but she thinks inviting him for some chilli- it’s not as if she’s asking him on a date.

After they eat, sitting on her couch, he says, “That was the best chilli I’ve ever had.”

“Oh, stop it,” she responds, but inside, she’s warm in a way the chilli has nothing to do with.

The late Mrs Nygaard wasn’t big on cooking, she knows, and Lester’s said he’s hopeless at it. She used to think about bringing him food during the day, but that wouldn’t have been appropriate, just bringing food she’d made when there was no special occasion or reason behind it.

“No, I’m serious.” He looks at her with warm eyes.

It’s not good to think ill of the dead, but Mrs Nygaard really was a fool. Even if Lester wasn’t right for her, how could she hurt him in a such a way?

“I was thinking, if ya wanted, tomorrow night, I could take you out. As a way of saying thanks.”

“There’s really no need. I usually end up cooking too much anyways, so, it was real nice of you to-”

He’s kissing her, and she’s not sure how this happened, but she’s not complaining.

It’s even better kissing him than she ever let herself imagine.

When it brings, he starts, “Uh, Linda-”

“Don’t say you’re sorry. Please, don’t. If it shouldn’t have happened, I understand, what with you still mourning your wife and us not really knowing each other that well outside of work. But don’t say you’re sorry, because, even if it never happens again, I’m glad it did.”

He kisses her cheek. “It might be a little fast, but I was wondering if you’d let me take you on a proper date soon. I’d like to get to know you better outside of work.”

She’s never felt this sort of happy before.

…

Her parents aren’t particularly happy, he’s white, she was supposed to go to college and be something great, not end up working as an assistant at an insurance office, it takes some convincing to get them to believe she’s not pregnant, but her mother takes her shopping for a wedding dress.

She hopes the late Mrs Nygaard doesn’t have objections to the fact she’s about to become the newest Mrs Nygaard, but if she does- what happened wasn’t Mrs Nygaard’s fault, but if she hadn’t slept with her married brother-in-law, there’s a chance he wouldn’t have become obsessed with her, turned on his own brother, been willing to hurt his wife and child in ways so much more than just committing adultery.

In the past, she had crushes, and there was one boyfriend she really liked, but she didn’t know love until Lester. She doesn’t want another man, probably never will if, God forbid, he dies before she does. His touch will always be enough.

“I, Lester, take you, Linda, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and hold from this day forward, in sickness and health, for richer and poorer, ‘til death do us part.”

Looking at him, part of her can’t believe this is really happening. Her standing in a white dress in front of him, their friends, her family, making promises to be together forever in the presence of God.

Taking a deep breath, she lets herself feel the ring on her finger before saying, “I, Linda, take you, Lester, to be my lawfully wedded husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness, and in health. I will love and honour you all the days of my life.”

Objections are asked for, and there’s only silence.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

…

Things are wonderful until there’s a celebration for Lester being top salesman.

He gets her out of the hotel bed in the middle of the night, but then, he talks about going on a trip to celebrate.

She realises he’s likely trying to be spontaneous, and it’s nice to have a husband who’s so romantic even after the honeymoon phase is over.

Before they can get ready, though, Officer Solverson comes to ask questions, and she feels a little guilty about lying, but whatever’s going on, Lester doesn’t need the police thinking he might have done anything bad. When the late Mrs Nygaard was murdered, he was a suspect for a while, and even though it’s the police’s job to suspect the husband in such cases, she still can’t help but feel a little offended.

…

It’s time to go.

Lester and her parents have never really gotten to know one another, and until now, she’s never told him much about what working in her parents’ motel involved or what she dreamed of back then: A man to take her away like Cinderella.

In the car, she finds herself going further when she tells him about how she wanted the late Mrs Nygaard not dead but out of the picture, and the look on his face gives her peace. He’ll always grieve his first wife, but even if he can’t say it, back then, he dreamed of someone different. Better.

He didn’t know it was her, she didn’t even know it was her, but it was her.

They get to the office, and he pulls around back since the front can be so slippery.

“I hate to do this, but I kinda tweaked my back before, getting the luggage,” he says.

When she assures him she doesn’t mind getting the passports, he smiles his warm, beautiful smile, and then, he gives her his coat. “Put the hood up, huh? I’d hate for your pretty face to freeze.”

Heading inside, she thinks, in Acapulco, it’d be a good time to bring up maybe having a baby.


End file.
